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Post by nfi42 on Sept 17, 2016 15:26:29 GMT
Any polish peeps here willing to send me a mail with Geralt postage stamps prrrrtty puhhleez? You be my bff 😀 Why settle for a postage stamp when you can have this from here Geralt of Rivia Statue Features: - Size approximately 26 inches [(H)66.2cm (W)40.9cm (L)36.1] - High-Quality translucent resin for a lifelike skin effect Exclusive version: - Switchable Portrait head Retail Price: $769 USD
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Post by Ieldra on Sept 17, 2016 17:45:07 GMT
Why settle for a postage stamp when you can have this You answered yourself:
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Post by xeternalxdreams on Sept 17, 2016 20:11:22 GMT
Why settle for a postage stamp when you can have this You answered yourself: Damn. I could possibly see it for maybe 49.99/59.99 American dollars as a collectable. Even then, naaah.
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Post by slimgrin on Sept 18, 2016 0:34:45 GMT
I have a question for those who have played TW3: This would normally be my kind of game, but the combat in TW2 put me off. I liked it in the first game and played that one several times, but the second one removed the swordfighting sequence indicators which made it much more difficult. I don't like difficult combat in the first place, but I might've put up with it for the story were it not for the QTE boss fights. I find combat with quick-time events frustrating, since it usually needs several repeats, which defeats my motivation thoroughly, so I couldn't get beyond the Kayran fight in the second game. So how is it in TW3? I'd really like to play it, since I like the world and its characters, but if it has difficult combat I can't cheat around it's probably not for me. TW3 is a lot easier. Until you get to the expansions, then it approaches TW2 difficulty. Alchemy is more boring imo, and the skill tree is bloated, meaning you have to invest points just to get to the good parts. I suspect it's because the game is so huge. On the upside, you get better dodging, riposte and counters. They add much to the combat. So does ride-by bombings on horseback. Sword combat on horseback may be hard, but tossing bombs and using your crossbow isn't. To those new to the game on PC, I discovered immersive Cam Mod and Hud Positioning and Scale are totally compatible without script merging. Both are remarkably in depth. Also, here's how to enable instant sign casting with keys, among other tips: sidspyker.github.io/witcher-3-pc-guide/www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/689/?www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/861/?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2016 20:14:51 GMT
Well, I tried my first try at NG+. Everything went fine until I had an issue with underwater combat with crossbow. It doesn't scale as intended so you need 10+ bolts on NG+ Death March to kill a drowner that has a little bit more levels than you.
I stopped playing :/
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Post by nfi42 on Sept 20, 2016 8:11:53 GMT
Well, I tried my first try at NG+. Everything went fine until I had an issue with underwater combat with crossbow. It doesn't scale as intended so you need 10+ bolts on NG+ Death March to kill a drowner that has a little bit more levels than you. I stopped playing :/ That only happens with the drowners in white Orchard, in other regions (once you level up more) they're fine.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2016 11:48:30 GMT
That's reassuring. I'll persevere then. I really hope there aren't too much high level sirens/drowners around :/
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Post by Serza on Sept 21, 2016 21:45:09 GMT
Yeah, if anyone's got pointers on defeating Saesenthessis, I'm all ears. Can't get the handle on dodging her.
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Post by Debaser on Sept 26, 2016 5:15:25 GMT
Anyone lucky enough to get a key for the Gwent beta thing?
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Post by DragonKingReborn on Sept 30, 2016 8:00:42 GMT
I finished Blood and Wine the other night....really impressed. It just didn't seem to end.
Fantastic end to the series and a solid amount of playable denouement, which is something I really like.
Although, whoever scripted the second phase of the final boss fight.....there are now three people I hate.
*not really, of course, it was awesome...just really damned hard*
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Post by slimgrin on Sept 30, 2016 19:40:56 GMT
Yeah, if anyone's got pointers on defeating Saesenthessis, I'm all ears. Can't get the handle on dodging her. So the beginning is just balls out attack and dodge. When you get on top of the tower, she has patterns, but she'll mix it up. Attack obliquely, and never head on. You can roll over her tail swipe. those are the two biggies.
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Post by Serza on Oct 3, 2016 14:11:30 GMT
Well, I really gotta say this (repeat some of it).
The first Witcher game is a god damn piece of crap. Utter mess. It did not age well at all. I dug my way through to the second one - I don't think I've ever seen an improvement of this magnitude in a series. It was pretty much what I imagined an (action) RPG should be like. Now I'm playing the third, and I've only gotten to see Yen so far - she wants me to go to Velen, so naturally I'm just doing my business around White Orchard. That place is... Full of stuff. (Gotta say, not Hinterlands-full, but full). Only now I understand why everyone loves that game so much. For me, it's not the first, but the short and sweet build up of the second, followed with the third.
There's also one more thing. This has to be the first time in years I've actually played the Czech translation, and I have to say, it feels... Natural. Probably because they translated from Polish, which is that much closer than English.
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Post by Serza on Oct 3, 2016 20:29:13 GMT
Is there a mod where I can slaughter whoever beats me at Gwent?
I don't care, I'll kill all those black arsewipes, Emperor included.
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Post by Dovahkiin N7 on Oct 20, 2016 21:53:20 GMT
Blood and wine DLC was great, but I really really loved Heart of Stone. The villain!!! So terrifying, so complicated, so demonic yet somewhere somehow gentle and loving. Remember how he helps Geralt express his emotions in the party? Baffling and adorable.
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Post by flyingsquirrel on Oct 21, 2016 0:46:50 GMT
The first Witcher game is a god damn piece of crap. Utter mess. It did not age well at all. I've actually been playing it the last week or two, as I'm hoping to replay the entire Witcher trilogy before Andromeda comes out. There are definitely places where it seems like maybe it was operating from a lower set of expectations - dialogue scenes often have the character whom Geralt is addressing cycle back to a stock phrase over and over again when the original menu of choices comes back up, whereas it seems like the later Witcher games, and most other RPGs, try to make conversational transitions seem more natural. And, of course, the "sex cards" are dumb and offensive, though you can get around them by just avoiding the dialogue choices that lead in that direction. I wouldn't say it's a *bad* game, though, and I'm able to understand the significance of some of the lore a little better now from having played all three games. (The first time through, all the talk of Oxenfurt, Temeria, Zerrikania, etc. must have just flown right past me.) Though there's one thing I've never quite understood - the game begins with the witchers from Kaer Morhen splitting up to investigate, but why does Geralt not seem to get back in touch with them at the end of TW1 or the beginning of TW2? And if they really are abandoning Kaer Morhen, as Vesemir suggests, why are they still using it as a headquarters in TW3?
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Post by slimgrin on Oct 21, 2016 15:54:08 GMT
CDPR have been negligent in tying plot threads together, game to game. But after TW1 at least we have an explanation for why Geralt doesn't meet up with them as Foltest overrides that. At the start of TW3, Vesimer's with him and the other two are traveling and following the path, so the stronghold was abandoned for a long time.
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Post by dzejkob on Nov 8, 2016 22:28:38 GMT
Started a new game plus and had a lot of weird (yet fairly amusing) bugs
Also with the game plus the guards are level over 100 and it just shows up with question marks in the game (meaning you're screwed xD)
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Post by Ieldra on Dec 11, 2016 7:56:00 GMT
I finally got around to playing The Witcher 3. I'm not very far in yet, but here are two significant impressions when comparing TW3 with, say, DAI or ME3:
(1) Story: The story elements make sense and blend into each other more naturally than in DAI or ME3. Also, I haven't run into a WTF moment or scenes with mind-numbing protagonist stupidity yet. I get the impression that the writers of the game don't go out of their way to put certain themes or tropes into their writing, which in Bioware's games often comes at the expense of storytelling or lore - or if they do, it's much better integrated and way less visible.
(2) Dialogue: The dialogue system is noticeably primitive compared to Bioware's games. It's more linear, which conversation options end the conversation is often not clear, there are no "nodes" to structure it, and the ways to express opinions are very limited and opportunities to do so are less frequent.
All in all, it's refreshing to play a game that tells a story and that doesn't try to make some philosophical or political point at every turn. Not that such aren't present, but the game appears to take the "just tell the story" approach I missed so much in ME3. There's also a refreshing absence of protagonist adulation so far. Gameplay is more complex than in Bioware's games and TW3 takes a while to learn, but since I'm not so fond of difficult combat I play on the easiest setting. Maybe I'll play another game on different settings, but it seems, so far, that playing several times may not be as rewarding as in DAI.
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Post by Babar Guy on Dec 11, 2016 8:06:57 GMT
I finally got around to playing The Witcher 3. I'm not very far in yet, but here are two significant impressions when comparing TW3 with, say, DAI or ME3: (1) Story: The story elements make sense and blend into each other more naturally than in DAI or ME3. Also, I haven't run into a WTF moment or scenes with mind-numbing protagonist stupidity yet. I get the impression that the writers of the game don't go out of their way to put certain themes or tropes into their writing, which in Bioware's games often comes at the expense of storytelling or lore - or if they do, it's much better integrated and way less visible. (2) Dialogue: The dialogue system is noticeably primitive compared to Bioware's games. It's more linear, which conversation options end the conversation is often not clear, there are no "nodes" to structure it, and the ways to express opinions are very limited and opportunities to do so are less frequent. All in all, it's refreshing to play a game that tells a story and that doesn't try to make some philosophical or political point at every turn. Not that such aren't present, but the game appears to take the "just tell the story" approach I missed so much in ME3. There's also a refreshing absence of protagonist adulation so far. Gameplay is more complex than in Bioware's games and TW3 takes a while to learn, but since I'm not so fond of difficult combat I play on the easiest setting. Maybe I'll play another game on different settings, but it seems, so far, that playing several times may not be as rewarding as in DAI. The bright yellow conversation options move the conversation forward to the next bit or the end, the ones that are white are the equivalent to "investigate" options on a Bioware dialogue wheel and will loop you back to the same point in the conversation.
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Post by JayKay on Dec 11, 2016 8:10:32 GMT
Question for you guys.
So I got TW3 a while back, played pretty much up to finishing up the main Valen quests. Now, that's just the base game--there's also the Complete Edition with the two expansions, and I'm wondering, would it be cheaper/easier to buy the complete edition, or just get the season pass?
I will say that while the universe looks interesting, this series sounds like the hardest one to get into, with the first two games basically running only on PC, and a lot of it is based on a series of books that have only recently just gotten translated into English. Would I be better off just reading the books first?
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Post by Ieldra on Dec 11, 2016 21:54:41 GMT
Question for you guys. So I got TW3 a while back, played pretty much up to finishing up the main Valen quests. Now, that's just the base game--there's also the Complete Edition with the two expansions, and I'm wondering, would it be cheaper/easier to buy the complete edition, or just get the season pass? I will say that while the universe looks interesting, this series sounds like the hardest one to get into, with the first two games basically running only on PC, and a lot of it is based on a series of books that have only recently just gotten translated into English. Would I be better off just reading the books first? The books won't be much help for understanding the story of the first two games. I think the games detailed a lot of lore only vaguely outlined by the books. Better read the wiki or watch videos about the first two games. Or play them if you can.
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Post by flyingsquirrel on Dec 21, 2016 16:31:53 GMT
All in all, it's refreshing to play a game that tells a story and that doesn't try to make some philosophical or political point at every turn. Not that such aren't present, but the game appears to take the "just tell the story" approach I missed so much in ME3. There's also a refreshing absence of protagonist adulation so far. Gameplay is more complex than in Bioware's games and TW3 takes a while to learn, but since I'm not so fond of difficult combat I play on the easiest setting. Maybe I'll play another game on different settings, but it seems, so far, that playing several times may not be as rewarding as in DAI. I like the political subtexts in Bioware games, but I think that sometimes they go too far in having their stories be about "saving the world" (or the galaxy in Mass Effect's case). One thing I actually liked about DA2 was that Hawke was a smaller player in a smaller situation. The protagonist adulation comes partly because Bioware protagonists often end up being one of the most famous people alive. That certainly seems to be the case with Shepard, though they probably missed some opportunities to make certain characters' reactions a little more wary in regards to some of Shepard's more controversial decisions. Geralt doesn't have the standing and influence to save the world, and he knows it. I haven't read the books, but my impression from the games is that many people see witchers as oddities and freaks and don't necessarily trust them or want them around unless they need a monster killed. The most he can do is help individuals in tough situations and try to influence politics from the sidelines (you'll see more of this when you get to Skellige). In TW2, for example, there are sidequests to try to stop atrocities from taking place in the battle against LaVallette and in Flotsam, but the conflicts that started all the mayhem in the first place aren't something he can resolve.
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Post by dragontartare on Dec 26, 2016 1:30:13 GMT
Question for you guys. So I got TW3 a while back, played pretty much up to finishing up the main Valen quests. Now, that's just the base game--there's also the Complete Edition with the two expansions, and I'm wondering, would it be cheaper/easier to buy the complete edition, or just get the season pass? I will say that while the universe looks interesting, this series sounds like the hardest one to get into, with the first two games basically running only on PC, and a lot of it is based on a series of books that have only recently just gotten translated into English. Would I be better off just reading the books first? I know this is kind of an old question, but as someone who didn't play the first two games and knew next to nothing going in, I managed to follow along in the universe with just playing TW3 and reading the wiki when I didn't know what something was. It took me until Novigrad to really get hooked, though. If you do want to play the first two games on PC, though, GOG is having a pretty good sale on the entire series right now. The older games are under $3 each, the GotY edition is $29.99, and the expansion pass is $14.99.
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Post by Ieldra on Dec 27, 2016 23:19:47 GMT
Finished my first game of TW3... To say I'm impressed would be a drastic understatement. The amount of content alone is mind-blowing, and it's all top quality. As opposed to DAI, all character interaction is through dialogue scenes, even with minor NPCs, and there's significantly more of it as well. Storytelling easily tops Bioware's last games, and most major NPCs are compelling and well-written. Dialogue and character expression through speech is not as variable as in your typical Bioware game - which is to be expected with a more defined protagonist - but the game is unafraid to go into much more detail in practically anything, as opposed to the generic lines often employed in Bioware's games. Unfortunately, TW3 also uses paraphrasing, and it's as annoying as it is in Bioware's games, but oddly enough, even though TW3's dialogue tends to be more detailed, instances of "guessing wrong" about the general direction of a chosen line were extremely rare.
I also liked the way choices and consequences were implemented. Both major NPCs and the two protagonists, as well as the nations involved in the war that goes on, can have different endings depending on choices made at certain points in the game. For those characters who don't appear in the epilogue, their fate was told in a kind of character epilogue at the end of their part in the story, while Geralt and Ciri's fate and the bigger picture was told in the epilogue at the game's ending.
The downside, of course, is that most likely you have to like Geralt to like the game. Geralt has a few defined traits, even in minor things such as disliking magical portals and liking to drink with his friends. I happen to like his major traits though, the laconic personality and even his romantic preference for sorceresses. Some people have said TW3 is sexist, but IMO nothing could be further from the truth. It's told from Geralt's perspective, true, but the major female NPCs are so powerful and influential that there are times when Geralt stands in their shadow. Also, Yennefer has a presence just by standing there that easily outmatches every character Bioware has ever written. All in all, I could play as Geralt *way* more easily than I could play as Shepard in the ME trilogy and also more easily than as DAI's Inquisitor, simply because Geralt's defined character traits were much more to my liking than Shepard's, and the role I was cast in in TW3 fit my preferences better than the role I was cast in in DAI, and I never had to tie my mind into knots trying to reconcile the protagonist's defined role or character traits with my preferences. Above all, Geralt is not stupid.
As for gameplay - well, the first thing that comes to mind: you can walk, run, swim, dive, ride and sail, most of them in two speed variants...and as opposed to *every* game I have ever played, all of those modes of movement are useful and enjoyable. In fact, riding and sailing are so enjoyable that I found myself doing it for fun - to see the world and dash through landscapes.
Combat....is a two-edged sword. The combat system is very compelling and extremely well designed, and PC controls are exemplary. So much so, in fact, that the uncompromisingly real-time combat is actually enjoyable, which is something I don't say easily. The downside is that it's significantly more difficult than in the typical Bioware game, and it depends on precise timing of your actions, which didn't come easily to me. Even on the easiest setting, there were boss-type fights, both in the story and in witcher contracts, I found rather hard, and even though I'd find most of them much easier were I to repeat them now, a few remain were I would not be confident to win them even on the normal setting. In particular, this applies to some enemies in the Blood and Wine expansion - the flying witch and the final boss come to mind. In both cases, the problem is the very precise attack timing required to do any damage at all at certain stages of the fight. In the case of Blood and Wine's final boss, that precision is also required for defense.
All in all, TW3 was quite a bit more enjoyable than I expected after its predecessor (which I couldn't finish since I found myself unable to deal with the QTEs). Particularly the strong storytelling, compelling characters and the abundance of top-quality dialogue scenes involving many, many NPCs both minor and major, surprised me. This also draws attention to the fact that your typical Bioware game's set of companions, none of which can truly be plot-significant because they must all be expendable, is rather artificial. None of TW3's major NPCs have as many lines as a Bioware companion, but first, they don't need as many because they aren't around all the time, and second, some have more presence than a Bioware companion nonetheless, probably since they're plot-relevant and what they say is more naturally integrated into the whole story.
Lastly, but perhaps most significantly, there was never a moment in the game where I wanted to slap the writer(s). OK, things aren't perfect, and I recall one instance where I thought "How the heck do they know how to use this terminology?", but I can forgive that simple mistake much easier than story elements not making sense in the first place, or heavy-handed infusion of themes and tropes that don't arise naturally from the story.
I will play this game again, though not immediately. At 150 hours per playthrough if you want to see most of its content, it's a heavy investment in time, but I have my preferred outcomes I didn't get the first time, I skipped quite a bit of dialogue because I was impatient, and I want to see if I can manage to finish the game (including Blood and Wine, which is by far the hardest part) on another setting than the easiest.
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Post by dragontartare on Dec 28, 2016 0:58:10 GMT
Finished my first game of TW3... To say I'm impressed would be a drastic understatement. The amount of content alone is mind-blowing, and it's all top quality. As opposed to DAI, all character interaction is through dialogue scenes, even with minor NPCs, and there's significantly more of it as well. Storytelling easily tops Bioware's last games, and most major NPCs are compelling and well-written. Dialogue and character expression through speech is not as variable as in your typical Bioware game - which is to be expected with a more defined protagonist - but the game is unafraid to go into much more detail in practically anything, as opposed to the generic lines often employed in Bioware's games. Unfortunately, TW3 also uses paraphrasing, and it's as annoying as it is in Bioware's games, but oddly enough, even though TW3's dialogue tends to be more detailed, instances of "guessing wrong" about the general direction of a chosen line were extremely rare. I also liked the way choices and consequences were implemented. Both major NPCs and the two protagonists, as well as the nations involved in the war that goes on, can have different endings depending on choices made at certain points in the game. For those characters who don't appear in the epilogue, their fate was told in a kind of character epilogue at the end of their part in the story, while Geralt and Ciri's fate and the bigger picture was told in the epilogue at the game's ending. The downside, of course, is that most likely you have to like Geralt to like the game. Geralt has a few defined traits, even in minor things such as disliking magical portals and liking to drink with his friends. I happen to like his major traits though, the laconic personality and even his romantic preference for sorceresses. Some people have said TW3 is sexist, but IMO nothing could be further from the truth. It's told from Geralt's perspective, true, but the major female NPCs are so powerful and influential that there are times when Geralt stands in their shadow. Also, Yennefer has a presence just by standing there that easily outmatches every character Bioware has ever written. All in all, I could play as Geralt *way* more easily than I could play as Shepard in the ME trilogy and also more easily than as DAI's Inquisitor, simply because Geralt's defined character traits were much more to my liking than Shepard's, and the role I was cast in in TW3 fit my preferences better than the role I was cast in in DAI, and I never had to tie my mind into knots trying to reconcile the protagonist's defined role or character traits with my preferences. Above all, Geralt is not stupid. As for gameplay - well, the first thing that comes to mind: you can walk, run, swim, dive, ride and sail, most of them in two speed variants...and as opposed to *every* game I have ever played, all of those modes of movement are useful and enjoyable. In fact, riding and sailing are so enjoyable that I found myself doing it for fun - to see the world and dash through landscapes. Combat....is a two-edged sword. The combat system is very compelling and extremely well designed, and PC controls are exemplary. So much so, in fact, that the uncompromisingly real-time combat is actually enjoyable, which is something I don't say easily. The downside is that it's significantly more difficult than in the typical Bioware game, and it depends on precise timing of your actions, which didn't come easily to me. Even on the easiest setting, there were boss-type fights, both in the story and in witcher contracts, I found rather hard, and even though I'd find most of them much easier were I to repeat them now, a few remain were I would not be confident to win them even on the normal setting. In particular, this applies to some enemies in the Blood and Wine expansion - the flying witch and the final boss come to mind. In both cases, the problem is the very precise attack timing required to do any damage at all at certain stages of the fight. In the case of Blood and Wine's final boss, that precision is also required for defense. All in all, TW3 was quite a bit more enjoyable than I expected after its predecessor (which I couldn't finish since I found myself unable to deal with the QTEs). Particularly the strong storytelling, compelling characters and the abundance of top-quality dialogue scenes involving many, many NPCs both minor and major, surprised me. This also draws attention to the fact that your typical Bioware game's set of companions, none of which can truly be plot-significant because they must all be expendable, is rather artificial. None of TW3's major NPCs have as many lines as a Bioware companion, but first, they don't need as many because they aren't around all the time, and second, some have more presence than a Bioware companion nonetheless, probably since they're plot-relevant and what they say is more naturally integrated into the whole story. Lastly, but perhaps most significantly, there was never a moment in the game where I wanted to slap the writer(s). OK, things aren't perfect, and I recall one instance where I thought "How the heck do they know how to use this terminology?", but I can forgive that simple mistake much easier than story elements not making sense in the first place, or heavy-handed infusion of themes and tropes that don't arise naturally from the story. I will play this game again, though not immediately. At 150 hours per playthrough if you want to see most of its content, it's a heavy investment in time, but I have my preferred outcomes I didn't get the first time, I skipped quite a bit of dialogue because I was impatient, and I want to see if I can manage to finish the game (including Blood and Wine, which is by far the hardest part) on another setting than the easiest. Do the accusations of sexism maybe come from what the women wear? The sorceresses tend to show ample cleavage (whereas the main males show hardly any skin) and even Ciri doesn't really wear protective gear despite all the fighting she does. It's pretty silly and yes, a bit sexist. Other than that, though, I didn't consider the game or story to be sexist. It's worth noting that I didn't play the first two games, so maybe there is some subtext I'm missing. I pretty much agree with everything else you said. I've recently started a NG+, and having all of Geralt's fancy abilities makes the combat SO much easier than the first time through, even though the enemies also scaled up. And obviously, it helps to finally understand the alchemy system and have a stock of potions ready
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